V(UTG, $~630): Early 40's, total drooler wanting to gamble. Made the statement "I'm either going to win a lot or lose a lot tonight". He has rivered miracles like 4 times to build a stack, after barreling with like MPNK or BPNK. Last hand I won against him he limp/called PF, then c/c'd/bet/bet on a QT393r board. I called him down with KQo and he proudly showed Q6o. Also, he has blind raised to $15 the straddler to his right every opportunity he's gotten.

Me(UTG+1, $cover table): Running like god and crushing the table. Up 6BI's over the past 1.5 hrs. Have a very solid but LAG image, as I've been raising PF a ton but showing down monsters.

My hand: 44

V raises to $12, I call, folds to SB who calls

Pot = $35
Flop: AJ4:
SB checks, V bets $20, ?????

Not sure what the best line is here. Knowing he's barreling a lot, should I flat? Or do I raise in hopes he has Ax? (SB is a non-factor BTW, as he started to fold out of turn).

It's going to be tough to get stacks in by the river if you just call all the way down, even though villain is probably going to barrel off a large percentage of the time. I'd raise the flop to try to build the pot. You may even induce a 3bet by villain.

I'd probably raise to $85 on the flop, then $160 on turn and shove river.

This is a tough one.

If you raise the flop, he may surrender initiative and check the turn and river, meaning you'll have to make unusually large bets hoping for a call if you want to get stacks in. In the previous hand, HE took over initiative when he felt his pair of queens was best. In this one, he may think you're doing this same thing. But for real value, you'll need to make huge bets, and even a drooler will suspect something's up.

I like raising to $$50 or $60. AJ, or maybe even AK from this player will pounce on this and you can get stacks in on the flop. If not, I think there is still a good chance he calls and then keeps barreling.

Raise to 55 to 1) protect your hand against his range that cannot improve to second best, there's only so much value you can get out of worse; 2) Build a pot against his Ax hands. 3) give him the opportunity to spazz.

OTT & OTR: Bombs away.

You're not going to get $630 in by flatting otf.

Just go ahead and raise, that is the best way to get max value.

I'm def. raising it up to $80 here. Bloat the pot asap.

A quick rule of thumb: ALWAYS bet/raise trips or sets. Maybe the one exception would be top set on a Broadway-high board, where its unlikely villain flopped much, like say KK on a K27 board.

50-60 sounds good, as your getting additional value while giving villain enough room to hang himself.

Snap raise to somewhere in 55-70 for sure on the flop. Raising OTF is by far the best way to achieve max value, especially against spazzy villains, no doubt.